Women hunt for ‘pink toilets’ in ‘smart’ Srinagar city

A women’s washroom in Jawahar Nagar area of Srinagar, on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

The Srinagar Smart City aspires to use innovative and inclusive solutions to "enhance the quality of life for its citizens". However, the situation could not be more different when it comes to facilities for women, particularly ‘pink toilets' for them. Smart cities cannot be "smart" if there is a dearth of amenities for women, said Sabeen Gulrez, while Mehvish pointed out that the business centre of the city, Lal Chowk, "has just one or two washrooms".

According to a Swachh Bharat Mission advisory, there should be one "water closet" per 250 men and one per 100 women. "Every day we are discussing women empowerment... There should be separate washrooms for women. We feel insecure in using common washrooms," Mehvish said. Gulrez feels talking about a smart city without facilities such as public convenience for women is just rhetoric. If women do not feel safe what is the point of the Smart City project, how can a woman walk a kilometre to find a washroom in the market, she asked.

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Bismah, another local, said Lal Chowk is the city centre but has just one public washroom for women. "In this city, there no washrooms are visible anywhere... where will we go?" she asked. Srinagar Municipal Corporation Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu said the civic body is addressing the concern on priority. "We are building community toilets. We have drafted a plan to build 100 to 150 community toilets every year. Like in Chandigarh, there is a rule in the master plan to have a community toilet every 500 feet," Mattu said.

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